updated 12:50 am EST, Thu January 7, 2010

HP slate and Android smartbook in works

(Updated with smartbook photos) As rumored, Microsoft at its CES 2010 keynote showed off an HP-designed tablet computer. The "slate" is completely new and lacks a physical keyboard, instead relying on capacitive touch. It also runs on Windows 7, sports multi-touch and adjusts for the orientation of the display, suggesting it has both an x86-based processor and an accelerometer.

In CEO Steve Ballmer's presentation, the slate was running Amazon's Kindle app for Windows, hinting at an e-book focus. Neither HP nor Microsoft has provided further hardware details, though official press shots and a video (available below) have been made public.

The slate is due sometime later this year and will be accompanied by a smartbook running Android, a prototype of which should be viewable tomorrow. The hardware will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, but little else is known about how close it is to production. HP seems to be gauging interest with the device, and does not reveal any details, short of that it has "all day battery life" like a smartphone, and an instant-on mode. It also relies on flash memory and therefore has no fans.

Prototype

Its a real prototype that could go in production but besides a multi-touch enabled Windows version with automatic display orientation there is nothing interesting to mention.
- no special app store
- no 3P apps that utilize the tablet concept
- no Zune integration
- HD playback?
- no pricing
Nothing special was mentioned, they just wanted to be the first to present a tablet that looked like an oversized iPod Touch with to much buttons.

About the price-point, today i've seen a Packard Bell 10.1" mini notebook with windows 7 for about $300. With Apple's mass-production possibilities they can easily make it a $400 iSlate, Apple needs a mass audience and a $999 laptop replacement won't get that.

re: Mass audience?

The $199 iPod Touch is high quality and cheap, they need a low cost entry model. The big incentive is iTunes, the app store and hopefully a digital bookstore.

Another option could be to start high and gradually lower the price over a 1-2 year period like what they did with the iPod and iphone but the following 2 years will be very important, they really need to start this with a bang if production capacity isn't holding them back.

Yes, the price may be high initially...

I think for many products in history, the people that have the most money get the goods first. It may take time for those goods to filter down to the general public. At one time, paper books were only for the wealthy. Apple doesn't necessarily just sell to the wealthy, but its clientele doesn't seem to mind paying more for its products. If the tablet is well-built and will last a couple of years, I don't think $800 is too much to pay if it has the functions that satisfy me. If the Kindle DX is close to $500, I don't see why Apple can't ask for more for a product that can do more. Still, we're all just making assumptions about everything since nothing is concrete about the Apple tablet from hardware to pricing.

I think any top computer company can build good tablet hardware with off-the-shelf parts. It's the integration of everything that's going to be difficult to manage. Apple can easily provide all the integration because they've been doing it for years. Hardware/software/content integration will be Apple's advantage. Apple tablet users will have to pay for that but if the results are good, then it's worth it.

I think many of those eReaders are moving in the right direction, even the very simple eInk ones. Just giving readers the capability of putting a lot of reading material into a small device seems very useful. I really think it's about time for tablets or slates to catch on if the publishing industry is behind it.

More options

I would rather have the HP slate than an Apple slate (slate = tablet computer without a keyboard) UNLESS Apple were to provide true OSX and bootcamp support (with stylus and multitouch support) on their machine. If that were the case I would a happy camper. Instead it looks like all we will see is a larger iPhone/iPod Touch that only runs "Apps". This saddens me as I had hoped for a less expensive slate type computer that would allow for stylus input as well as touch controls.

Kinda bloated

So, 37% of the front surface area is the frame around the screen and it is around a half-inch thick. Rip a netbook in half, tear off the keyboard, and then glue the monitor part face-up where the keyboard was. Innovative.

App Store???zune??? its windows!!

Are you a complete idiot. app store for windows 7? um it's called best buy, walmart, office max, and um just about any store that sells electronics. And last time i was looking for software it was most of the time free downloads. Zune integration? you must be a moron. You can go to zune.net and download the zune software. I have it on my hp mini and it's awesome, tons better than itunes. I think a slate that can run windows 7 has so much more flexiblity than something that requires an app store. I can install any gps software I want, I can have itunes and zune on the same device. You all have no imagination and are blinded by the apple marketing. i don't care if you don't want one, but i do.